Generally, an apparatus for purifying water serves to filter harmful ingredients such as foreign materials or heavy metals included in water in a physical or chemical manner. A similar apparatus to the water purifier may include an ionized water apparatus, etc.
This water purifier may be largely divided into a filtering unit for filtering contaminants from raw water, a storing unit for storing purified water having passed through the filtering unit, and a discharging unit for providing the purified water stored in the storing unit to a consumer.
Generally, the apparatus for purifying water is supplied to homes, companies, factories, etc. due to consumers' high concerns about health and a recent bad water quality.
As the apparatus for purifying water is universally supplied, increased are the consumers' demands for an apparatus for purifying water having an additional function to provide hot water and cold water as well as to purify water.
Nowadays, manufacturers for the apparatus for purifying water present out an apparatus for purifying water having an additional function to provide ice cubes, thereby attracting the consumers' interests.
The apparatus for purifying water having a function to provide ice cubes has a structure that a refrigerant pipe along which a refrigerant having a low temperature flows is immersed in purified water accommodated in a predetermined container. Here, the purified water around the refrigerant pipe is frozen to form ice cubes, whereas the purified water accommodated in the container is cooled into cold water through heat exchange with the refrigerant pipe.
In this case, the temperature of the cold water is determined according to a heat exchange rate with a heat exchanger until the ice cubes are frozen to a predetermined size. Accordingly, it is difficult to control the temperature of the cold water in accordance with a consumer's demand.
Furthermore, the temperature of the cold water is varied according to a distance between the heat exchanger and the purified water. This may cause the temperature of the cold water provided to the consumer not to be constant.